"'Velvet' begins with Hawwa crossing a narrow street, entering a narrower alley, and turning into countless others. As she passes through the alleys she knows by heart, she ruminates on her family and her frequent trips to the seamstress’s house where she works and has found refuge from the harshness of the refugee camp."

If we allow ourselves to peel off assumptions, biases, “moral lessons,” the sins of ideology, and the lie of the triumph of good and truth over evil and injustice, we will be surprised by the turn of the narrative.

"The candid depiction of the worsening situation of Egyptian Christians and their alienation in their own country is touching and sensitively written," prize judge Rasheed El-Enany wrote in his remarks.